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D&D campaign ideas

Hello,

I'm starting a new D&D campaign for some friends and I'm looking for some ideas for this campaign. I've done almost everything under the sun I can think of before...so I'm asking for ideas from you guys/gals, so it'll help me make the experience for myself and the players alot more fun rather than the same ol same ol.

If I use your idea or idea's I'll even create an npc using your name..you might be a villian or shop vendor, but I'll work you in the game and post how it's working out on the board.

Thanks in advance for any help.

What I have thus far is 4 players and myself...they haven't decided on what they'll be playing, but most likely 2 will be melee types if they follow thier usually play style habits. The other 2 haven't decided yet.

Re: D&D campaign ideas

A simple campaign idea is to build a world, and then give the players a guild they work for. The main hook is that when running a dungeon for the guild, player gets a book, but no one can translate it save for one sage. However as he is translating it over night he is killed. Afterward the players learn of a BBEG whom wants to take the book because it will allow him to ascend to god hood. To defeat him the group must find the rod of seven parts or like artifact to defeat the man.
An easy way to run it is to make all dungeons from premade dungeons and call it gravy. You just have to put them in the correct order so that they don't run into a CR4 dungeon and level 8.

Re: D&D campaign ideas

Well, I'm currently working on a villain inspired by some thread from a month or so ago here, to be the centerpiece for a long-term campaign that I'll be running in the future, which you're free to borrow from.

He's basically a Rakshasa with advanced spellcasting (through various prestige classes) who uses the simulacrum spell to create several 1/2 level versions of himself to infiltrate various agencies and gain control of things. He'll use this influence to accumulate wealth and power, but I haven't figured out yet what his goal should be beyond that. I figure he'll probably be the guy the PCs are working for in addition to whatever enemies they come up against, and he'll eventually take enough interest in them to start making things personal.

The key thing is to remain anonymous for as long as possible, making good use of the rakshasas' natural shapeshifting and detect thoughts abilites. The greatest thing about this concept is that the simulacrum version can be the BBEG for the early parts of the campaign, and when they finally defeat him it just melts away and they realize that there's way more to go in order to defeat the real villain. It'll also help to start being kind of a jerk to the players once they catch on to the whole shapeshifting villain thing, so they really build up a lot of hatred for your villain. In particular, I plan to use some spells (such as ray of stupidity) that are more insult than injury. As you can see, it's really a campaign that's more about the villain himself than about whatever villainous plans he has going at the moment (of which there should be several).

Bonus points if you can manipulate the PCs into inadvertantly helping the BBEG accomplish his goals or win against his various enemies even after they've stopped working for him.

I can post the full build I have in mind if you want. I expect this to work especially well against my group since nobody has used a rakshasa in any game since I joined the group 5 years ago. They'll probably assume it's a doppleganger when they realize it can assume other peoples' identities. Misdirection is the key. I really expect that this will be a really fun campaign once I get everything prepared.

"Nothing you can't spell will ever work." - Will Rogers

"What you must learn is that these rules are no different than the rules of a computer system. Some of them can be bent. Others can be broken." - Morpheus, The Matrix

Originally Posted by Krellen

Remember, Evil isn't "selfish". It's Evil. "Look out for number one" is a Neutral attitude. Evil looks out for number one while crushing number two.

Re: D&D campaign ideas

a few more details please:
- are you using an established campaign world, or are willing to use some? which worlds do you have access to?
- what levels are you planning the campaign for? from which level to which? this is importent. or are you ok with everything?
- what are the game preferces of you and your players? killing and looting? intrigue? NPCs interaction focused? strategists? problem solvers?
-it would be great if you can give an example or two of things you and your players realy enjoyed, and an example or tow you and your players realy hated...

two of my ideas are on a This Thread, just scroll down, there are a few other ideas there as well. i might be able to give mroe ideas if you answer the above questions.

Re: D&D campaign ideas

An idea I'd had but haven't had the opportunity to work with begins thusly:

The PCs are called in to clear out the goblins that have infested a distant Dwarven mining outpost. They find the goblins covered in tumors and oozing toxic slime from their orifices, mining a weird greenish stone, ignoring anything traditionally valuable.

They then quest to find the sage who can identify the stone -- it's identified as Coldfire Stone, a bizarre energy-laden mineral (essentially, Uranium).

The PCs, through some sleuthing, eventually find out that the BBEG is using Coldfire Stone to fuel horrifying war machines which he intends to use to take over the world.

Current D&D characters: NoneCurrently GMing: "The Last War of Outremer", Pathfinder/D&D 3.5The Crown and the Ring: Blog where I ramble and muse about elements of gaming culture, game mechanics, the philosophy of Dungeon Mastery (at least as it applies to me), and chronicle, step by step, the creation of a campaign world.

Re: D&D campaign ideas

I like to do one-shot games with pre-made characters for special occasions (ie. my annual halloween game), and sometimes they are expanded into longer campaigns.

Right now I'm putting together a mirror universe type Wizard of Oz game with the Drow beastmaster ranger (with her wolf, To'dal), razorclaw shifter rogue, revenant warlord, and warforged fighter playing the parts of evil versions of the happy quartet.

Also there is the Call of Cthulu game that had the players taking on the parts of various amnesiac Batman villains trying to recover their memories and find out how they ended up at the site of a ritual gone wrong.

I use a lot of skewed perception gimmicks to give games/campaigns a different feel. That way when I want to run a straight up swords-and-socerery game it feels fresh to my players.

Since I'm not sure about your players taste, I'm going to suggest something generic, but flavorful.

The party meets when they are going about their seperate lives, but end up stuck at the same inn at the mouth of a mountain pass that was closed by a blizzard earlier in the year than expected. After four months of being stuck together, they have decided to assist one another in their various errands. When each player makes their character have them write up a small goal that would be easily accomplished for a party of their size and level. This gives you some additional character developement to work on, invests each of them in their character alittle more, builds a stronger party relationship, and gives you a ready made plot for the first few games. You can then sprinkle bread crumbs and hooks for your over-arching plans into each of these mini-personal quests.